Robin in the Future
by Zaraizabell
Summary: Only a few days after becoming Robin, Richard Grayson gets sent into the future, and he can't speak English! Fixed the POV confusion


**Read some stuff, felt inspired to write what would happen if Rick ever got transported into the future.**

**Disclaimer-I own none of the characters in these stories, worst of luck**

**Author's Note-I kind of modernized all the Richard Grayson stories I write by calling him Rick instead of Dick.**

**If anything I put in foreign language stuff is off, I used Google translate.**

**This only might be a follow up for "Batman and Robin Book 1"**

Robin

I was somewhat surprised to see Gotham in much the same state as it had been in the present. I was leaping from roof top to roof top, wondering how on earth I would get back to the past. That was, until I ran straight into some dude that seemed to have a Batman inspired costume.

He took one look at me and asked, "Where did you get that costume?"

I replied in careful English, "Need to know." I had only been Robin for a little while, and already I had gotten stuck in the future. I saw the guy tense his muscles, preparing to try to catch me, so I dove off of the roof, flipped once in midair, and launched my grappling hook at the nearest building. Forgetting English was one of the many draw backs of the future. I still remembered the variety of other languages, but English was as distant to me as it had been when I was three.

The guy chased after me, easily matching the move, though he managed to flip twice.

I ran over the roof tops, but some of them were now unfamiliar to me, whereas he seemed to have them memorized. His longer legs covered more distance.

I tried sinking into the shadows, but he still found me.

He pinned my shoulder against the wall and asked again, "Where did you get that costume?"

I replied simply, "Je l'ai eu de Batman." ***I got it from Batman**

The guy replied also in French, "Dites-moi tout" ***Tell me everything**

I told him about the mission I had been on with Batman, swiftly switching languages when one wasn't enough. He followed each transition with surprising ease. He even knew Romanian. I had a hard time explaining the sudden removal of English from my mind, but he seemed to understand.

Nightwing

I had honestly written the whole experience off as a bad dream. I could barely believe that a few days after becoming Robin, I really had been transported into the future by a sorcerer's spell. I signaled the whole clan. I knew from memory that I would need their help getting the younger version of me back to where he belonged. The problem was with the extreme mix of languages he was forced to use, I would be the only one able to understand a word he said.

I said, "Я звоню друзьям. Тогда я отвезу тебя обратно в пещеру." ***I'm calling friends. Then I will take you back to the cave. **He seemed to understand Russian better then French.

He nodded. I pulled out my communicator and signaled everyone to meet me back at the batcave.

He asked, "Будет ли он там?" ***Will he be there**

I shook my head, and explained, "Он делает международную работу." ***He is doing international work.**

He seemed dejected after that. He still followed me to the batmobile. It wasn't long before my brothers arrived.

Damian and Tim came in together. They had managed to change before they got there.

Damian asked, "Whose the guy in the Robin costume?"

Younger me perked up, recognizing his name.

I replied, "Lost time traveler."

Tim asked, "Past or future?"

I replied, "past."

Younger me asked, "Wer sind sie und was sagen sie?" ***who are they and what are they saying?**

I replied, "Brüder wirst du irgendwann erfüllen. Sie wollen wissen, wer Sie sind." ***Brothers you'll meet eventually. They want to know who you are.**

Then I said to Tim and Damian in English, "This is Robin a few days after Batman decided to take him on patrol."

Tim asked, "Why isn't he speaking English?"

I said, "He can't remember how."

With that, I led younger me to the medical wing to check him for injuries.

Robin

It was all pretty confusing. Kind of like the first trip to the U.S. I could remember. I only understood about a sixteenth of anything anyone said. I was glad the guy with me was translating a bit.

I asked him in Romanian, "Cine ești tu?" ***Who are you?**

He replied, "Nightwing."

I asked, "Când voi vă cunosc?" ***When will I meet you?**

He replied, "După ce ați absolvent de facultate." ***After you graduate college.**

I said using what little English I still remembered, "Nice you are, Nightwing."

Nightwing smiled and said, "You mean, You are nice."

I shrugged. He pushed against my ribs and I cried out in German, "Waffeln!" ***Waffle**

Nightwing said, "Ich sehe Sie immer noch das Frühstück zu verfluchen." ***I see you still use breakfast to curse**

He gently probed the area with his finger tips and said switching to Russian again, "У вас есть сломанное ребро." ***You have a broken rib.** I was glad I hadn't sustained more serious injuries. A broken rib could be ignored as long as it was treated properly.

One of the boys had followed us in. He asked, obviously struggling to piece together the Russian words, "Ты в порядке?" ***Are you okay?**

I said in equally bad English, "Ja, I be okay."

Then he asked Nightwing something in English that I didn't manage to catch.

Nightwing

Tim asked, "Where you ever this bad at English?"

I replied, "Only on the first trip to our fine country I can remember. The social worker that gave me a test, to make sure I was progressing, had to get ten translators just to read half of my answers."

Tim said, "I couldn't picture you like that, if I wasn't seeing it now."

I saw the look of confusion in the younger me's eyes. I explained in German once more, "Er will mehr über dich wissen." ***He wants to know more about you**

Tim asked, "How many languages do you speak?"

I replied, "Fluently," I did a quick tally, "about seven. This little guy can only speak about two well enough to be considered fluent."

Damian came in and asked, "Does he know Arabic?"

I shrugged, not really remembering when I had learned it.

Damian asked him, "هل تتكلم العربية؟" ***Do you speak Arabic?**

The younger me replied, "Nein."

He seemed to be growing more comfortable with German and Russian then anything else. Of course those where the two languages that none of the others fully understood.

Tim asked, "Parlez-vous français?" ***Do you speak french**

The younger me said, "Seulement un peu." ***Only a little**

I pulled out some medical tape and gently lifted younger me's shirt, in order to wrap the rib. He only winced a few times, but I heard him mutter the names of several other foreign breakfast foods under his breath. It was kind of cute really. It kind of made me wonder if I had ever really been that cute.

Tim asked, "did I just hear him say eggs in German?"

I replied, "Yeah, I used to use the names of foreign breakfast foods as curse words."

Damian scowled and asked, "Why did you do that?"

I replied, "I was young, and it was easier then getting yelled at all the time for cursing." I ran my fingers through younger me's hair, as I had often done to Tim and Damian over the years.

I saw the surge of jealousy get quickly concealed in Damian's face. I almost called him out on it, but decided I didn't want us to fight in front of younger me.

Tim asked, "How are we going to get him home?"

I said, "I think we might need some help from the League, but I don't really want to take younger me to the watch tower. Since neither of you can fully understand him, I couldn't leave you all alone."

Tim said, "Go. He needs help, and it's the only way he'll get it. We'll figure out a way to communicate."

I said to younger me, "Ich habe zu gehen finden helfen. Meine kleinen Brüder kümmern uns um Sie, während ich weg bin." ***I have to go find help. My little brothers will look after you while I'm gone.**

Robin

I didn't want Nightwing to leave. He was the only one that could understand any of the languages I spoke well enough to communicate. I asked, "Gibt es einen anderen Weg?" ***Is there any other way?**

Nightwing shook his head, and headed over to a strange looking metal tube that seemed to go nowhere. It turned yellow. He walked into it, and suddenly disappeared.

I said, "Heilige Pfannkuchen Batman." ***Holy pancakes Batman.**

I barely managed to understand the younger of the two boys ask, "What did you say?"

I focused hard and said, "Pancakes holy Batman."

Tim Drake

I was still in disbelief that Nightwing had actually agreed to my stupid plan. Damian and I were having a hard enough time not fighting without a frightened boy that barely understood ten English words. He still managed to get that tone of command in his voice, so even though we didn't understand a word he was saying, we both still listened.

I got an idea, and pulled out my iphone. I hit itranslate, and then English to German. I said into, "My name is Tim and my brother is Damian." **By the way, if this app doesn't exist, it should.**

The iphone replayed the message, "Mein Name ist Tim und dies ist mein Bruder Damian."

Young Robin got this excited gleam in his eye. He grabbed the iphone from my hand and managed to reverse it, so it would translate his German into English. The iphone played back the message, "This technology is not so different from my holographic computer at home."

Damian asked me, "They had holographic computers back then?"

I asked him, "How old do you think Nightwing is?"

Damian replied, "Tt, Old enough that he didn't have a holographic computer when he first became Robin."

I saw young Robin attempt to follow the conversation, but give up. Instead he spoke into the iphone once more, and it played back, "Do you know where Batman is?"

He held the phone out for me to reply, but I knew this one, "Nein."

He frowned and spoke into the phone once more. It replayed, "I wish he were here."

I took the phone this time and said, "That makes three of us."

Robin spoke into the phone once more. It translated, "Is there still a trapeze down here?"

I replied without the phone, "Ja."

He smiled and easily ran out of the medical bay and into the training room. Damian and I followed behind him. I had only seen Nightwing on the trapeze twice, though he told me when he was younger he used it to take his mind off of painful things. I guess this qualified.

Damian pretended to be uncaring, but he still followed, to see what Nightwing used to do on a nightly basis. He was closer to Nightwing then any of the rest of us. He wanted to see for himself what he could do.

Nightwing

J'on greeted me, "Hello Nightwing."

I asked him, "Are any of the speedsters or magic users avaliable?"

J'on replied, "a few, why?"

I said, "It's a bit of a, need to know, emergency."

J'on heard the slight worry in my voice and said after a moment's pause, "Flash will be here in seconds."

I saw the streak of scarlet approaching and said, "Thanks."

Flash asked me, "What's the problem?"

I said, "It will be easier to explain somewhere a bit more private."

Flash walked now, leading me to his room.

Past Batman

The small tracker I had planted in Robin's utility belt wasn't working. I had to find him. The strange sorcerer had managed to hit him with a final spell before disappearing. I had to figure out where he had sent Robin.

It almost seemed laughable now. The trivial thing I had been mad at Rick for this morning. He had seemed so dejected, that I had let him come on patrol with me. He had still seemed worried that I was mad at him. I had wished at the time to take back the words I had yelled at him that morning. Now I wished it even more. He could be anywhere in the globe, and there was no way I would find him.

I thought about calling Clark, but changed my mind. It was silly to feel jealous that he could find Rick when I couldn't. I should be glad that the two had a good relationship. I wasn't though. I was jealous. That jealousy had been the real cause for my yelling at Rick that morning.

I sighed and accepted defeat. Clark would be able to hear Rick's hart beat from miles away. He would be able to see through any walls that surrounded him, as long as they weren't made of lead. He had been with us for dinner the night before, and was sticking around, following a story for his day job.

Robin

I knew I was putting on quite the show for Tim and Damian. I was just trying to push thoughts of Batman from my head. He had still been mad at me when I got hit with whatever spell had done this. I still wasn't quite sure what he had been mad about, but the look in his eye had told me he was mad.

I did a series of more complex moves that required me to focus entirely on what I was doing. Without a catcher though, I was extremely limited.

Tim Drake

The young version of Nightwing was even more amazing then the older one. He had only wanted to show me a few tricks to help with training. The younger him's goal was obviously much different. I couldn't read the older one as well as Damian, and the younger one was just as good an actor, but he wasn't trying to conceal the pain he felt at being away from his mentor.

I could hear the music blaring through Damian's speakers, but I could tell he wasn't really listening to it. He was to busy watching the young version of Nightwing swing with great ease.

I saw that the boy wasn't going to catch the bar this time. He had timed himself wrong. I was about to launch myself to catch the boy, but Damian got there first.

The young Robin seemed annoyed that his cape had prevented him from doing the trick. I guess he hadn't learned to remember that it changed his aerodynamics. He was frowning when Damian set him back down.

Damian spoke a bit of Russian apparently. He said, "Не ушиблись." ***Don't hurt yourself.**

Robin

I grabbed the phone still in the older of the two boy's, spoke into it, and it translated, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. The net would have caught me."

The one Damian was glaring at the other. I had been learning to understand Batman's glares and this one seemed to say, "If you ever tell anyone about that I will kill you."

The two boys started fighting, but I didn't try to stop it this time. Instead, I found some clothes and changed out of the Robin suit before slipping out. I wanted to get away from the confusing conversation.

I was barely out of the cave before the tears slipped down my face. I just wanted Bruce to be there. He would have comforted me in his own way, and told me everything would be okay. Unless, he was still mad, which only made me cry harder.

I don't know why motorcycle guy was even on the path that led to the cave.

He asked me something in English, then tried Russian, "Кто ты?" ***Who are you?**

I replied between sobs, "Rick Grayson."

He seemed to recognize the name. He asked, "Что случилось?" ***What happened?**

I was crying to hard to reply. He pulled me onto the motorcycle and took me back to the cave. I didn't want to be there without Batman. I wanted to be pretty much anywhere else. I tried to get away, using the three months of training I had had. The motorcycle guy seemed surprised when I leaped off the motorcycle and grabbed a strong branch.

The woods around the cave hadn't changed nearly as much as everything else had. It was comfortable to be in the familiar space again. I headed over to a hollow I had found a few days before in my time. It was bigger, but other then that it was the same. I ducked into it, determined not to leave until Nightwing or Batman himself came.

Nightwing

I took a deep breath, so that I wouldn't slay my brothers. They had let younger me out of their sight, and underestimated his training. It was pretty hilarious that even he had managed to get away from Jason, but I didn't have time to laugh at that.

I said, "I set everything up with Flash. We need to meet him in Center City in three hours. You three are going to help me find younger me before that time is up." I glared at them in turn asking for them to defy me. I really was in the mood to beat Jason up, but he just nodded in agreement. He seemed to want to make up for the fact that even younger me had gotten away from him.

At least I had some idea where he might have gone. I led the way out of the cave and divided up the woods. I headed straight to the tree I was pretty sure younger me had decided to hide in. I had hidden in it many times over the years. It seemed that just when I thought I was to big to fit it would grow a little more. I found the form of younger me, his body shaking with silent sobs. He didn't want to be found by any of the others. They probably wouldn't have, since they didn't know where to look.

I gently lifted him out of the hollow and said, "Wir holen dich nach Hause." **We'll get you home**

He turned towards me, and like all my brothers had done at one time or another, he cried into my shirt. I knew Alfred would be upset with the stains he was leaving on my Nightwing costume, but I didn't care.

I saw he still had those sunglasses. The same ones that had found a home in every utility belt I had. They were a quick disguise, but they were important for another reason. They were the last gift my mom had given me for my birthday before she and my dad had died. I made sure they didn't fall to the ground when they fell off younger me's face.

I signaled my brothers to go back to the cave.

Future Batman

I was surprised to see all of the one time Robins sitting in the cave not killing each other. It was obvious their attention was once again focused on a young man on the trapeze. I had seen Nightwing show the boys moves, but another familiar face was on the trapeze as well.

I rubbed my eyes, convinced I was seeing things, until the boy caught sight of me. He dropped down easily into the net, followed shortly by Nightwing, still in costume.

The other boys now turned their attention to me as well.

I asked, "What's going on?"

I heard the familiar boy ask Nightwing in something that sounded like Russian. Nightwing gave a swift reply, then looked at me, promising to explain later.

The young Rick came over and hugged me. I easily hugged him back. I had done it so many times when he had been that age that it wasn't hard. I ran my hand through his hair, and he seemed relieved to see me.

Past Batman

I had to find him. Clark had been easy enough to contact, and he was helping me search Gotham. I had already been to all of Robin's favorite spots just in case. I couldn't find him in any of them. Superman now flew over scanning through buildings, searching for the missing Robin.

I had a feeling that he was okay. I had no idea where it came from, but I knew he was okay.

Robin

I was glad that the future Batman had shown up. All the other boys seemed glad to, though they had enjoyed the show that Nightwing and I put on. I had been worried for a second that he was still mad at me, but Nightwing had reassured me.

Of course, the language barrier was now worse then ever. I couldn't understand the conversation that Nightwing and Batman were having about me. I didn't really care, but a part of me wanted to know how he felt. Nightwing explained the plan for some super fast hero that called himself Flash was going to run fast enough carrying me to breach the time continuum and put me back where I belonged. I didn't like it, but I accepted it readily enough. Nightwing was the only one going with me to meet Flash.

I changed back into my costume before we walked into the strange metal tube that seemed to go nowhere and suddenly reappeared in a very different room walking out.

I hadn't really noticed that I had grabbed Nightwing's hand, but I was glad I did. Otherwise, I would have fallen over. I didn't investigate this hero's lair. I was more interested in getting home.

I saw the streak of red approaching, but I forced myself not to show surprise. The guy seemed disappointed, but I couldn't tell for sure. I really wanted to speak English again.

Past Batman

I heard a strange ripping sound. I was back in the warehouse from which Robin had disappeared looking for clues. Alfred had canceled my morning meetings. Clark had had to go, so he could do his day job. He promised assistance as soon as he got off work.

There was a flash of red, and suddenly Robin was back.

I rushed over and scooped up the disoriented boy. He kept smiling every time I talked. I was pretty sure I heard some breakfast foods being named under his breath, but for once they were all in English. I didn't ask him to many questions about where he had been. He was safe, and only had injuries he had sustained during the fight with the sorcerer. As far as I was concerned, that was good enough.

I called Clark after putting Robin to bed in his room to let him know I wouldn't need his assistance after all.

Years later, back in the cave

Here came the inevitable question. He hadn't waited long. I was barely stepping out of the Zeta tube when Batman asked, "During which of our missions did you travel into the future and decide not to tell me about it?"

I replied sheepishly, "That one with the sorcerer where I was missing for eighteen hours."

Batman said, "No wonder you seemed so happy when I was talking to you."

I said, "I was pretty glad to be able to understand everything you where saying, and I was convinced the whole thing had been a strange dream."


End file.
